# A lot of silver was used to help build the first Atomic bomb **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 11, 2020, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lot-of-silver-was-used-to-help-build-the-first-atomic-bomb/851544 "2020-04-11T02:02:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2020, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lot-of-silver-was-used-to-help-build-the-first-atomic-bomb/851544/1 "2020-04-11T02:02:59Z")
They used 430,000,000 troy ounces of silver because copper was in short supply due to WW 2. [Calutron - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calutron) Almost all of it was given back to the Treasury dept when they stopped using the Calutrons to make enriched uranium. Only 1/3,600,000th of the silver was not returned. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2020, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lot-of-silver-was-used-to-help-build-the-first-atomic-bomb/851544/2 "2020-04-11T02:42:38Z")
‘Young man, you may think of silver in tons, but the Treasury will always think of silver in troy ounces.’ ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2020, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lot-of-silver-was-used-to-help-build-the-first-atomic-bomb/851544/3 "2020-04-11T02:51:20Z")
Troy ounces are only used for precious metals now, the rest of use the avoirdupois system except for people who are on the metric system. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2020, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lot-of-silver-was-used-to-help-build-the-first-atomic-bomb/851544/4 "2020-04-11T02:51:29Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > ‘Young man, you may think of silver in tons, but the Treasury will always think of silver in troy ounces.’ Exactly what I was going to say. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2020, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lot-of-silver-was-used-to-help-build-the-first-atomic-bomb/851544/5 "2020-04-11T03:44:56Z")
that amount of silver today would be worth around $6,450,000,000 ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2020, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lot-of-silver-was-used-to-help-build-the-first-atomic-bomb/851544/6 "2020-04-11T16:30:02Z")
Oak Ridge is very different from other towns because it started as an Army base. There is no central downtown but they have a shopping center they call downtown. Most of it was no longer fenced off from outsiders starting in 1947. There are still sites there that are not open , mainly the Y-12 site. > **[Y-12 National Security Complex](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Y-12_National_Security_Complex)** > > The Y-12 National Security Complex is a United States Department of Energy National Nuclear Security Administration facility located in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, near the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. It was built as part of the Manhattan Project for the purpose of enriching uranium for the first atomic bombs. It is considered the birthplace of the atomic bomb. In the years after World War II, it has been operated as a manufacturing facility for nuclear weapons components and related defense purp... My brother was trying to sell them some parts and they met him at a building outside the gate. ---
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2020, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lot-of-silver-was-used-to-help-build-the-first-atomic-bomb/851544/7 "2020-04-11T16:41:29Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > Oak Ridge is very different from other towns because it started as an Army base. There is no central downtown but they have a shopping center they call downtown. Most of it was no longer fenced off from outsiders starting in 1947. There are still sites there that are not open , mainly the Y-12 site. > > [Y-12 National Security Complex - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Y-12_National_Security_Complex) > > My brother was trying to sell them some parts and they met him at a building outside the gate. Hell if you make a wrong turn and even go to the booth (instead of the visitor lot) you’ll meet a lot of people with guns and get your car searched\*. - ETA you never know who might have nuns in their trunk. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2020, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lot-of-silver-was-used-to-help-build-the-first-atomic-bomb/851544/8 "2020-04-11T16:47:44Z")
I saw that photo of the calutron operators in a history I’d read of the Manhattan project. It also mentioned how they outperformed the scientists and engineers who’d designed it and ironed out the kinks. > [@Wiki](#): > > The Y-12 electromagnetic plant units were initially operated by scientists from Berkeley to remove bugs and achieve a reasonable operating rate. They were then turned over to trained Tennessee Eastman operators who had only a high school education. Nichols compared unit production data, and pointed out to physicist Ernest Lawrence that the young “hillbilly” girl operators were outproducing his PhDs. They agreed to a production race and Lawrence lost, a morale boost for the Tennessee Eastman workers and supervisors. The girls were “trained like soldiers not to reason why”, while “the scientists could not refrain from time-consuming investigation of the cause of even minor fluctuations of the dials”. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2020, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lot-of-silver-was-used-to-help-build-the-first-atomic-bomb/851544/9 "2020-04-11T16:49:48Z")
A roommate of mine worked on a very unusual project at Oak Ridge National Labs which does mostly standard research, not military research. They had to develop a plan to ship nerve gas from Kentucky to a plant on a small island in the Pacific ocean so it could be destroyed. Once the nerve gas was destroyed the plant was removed too. > **[Johnston Atoll Chemical Agent Disposal System](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnston_Atoll_Chemical_Agent_Disposal_System)** > > Johnston Atoll Chemical Agent Disposal System (JACADS) was the U.S. Army's first chemical munitions disposal facility. It was located on Johnston Island, at Johnston Atoll and completed its mission and ceased operation in 2000. > Prior to the beginning of destruction operations at JACADS, the atoll held about 6.6% of the entire U.S. stockpile of chemical weapons. Chemical weapons were stockpiled on Johnston Atoll beginning in 1971, including weapons transferred from Okinawa during the 1971 Operati... They moved the nerve gas by truck at night to an airport and then it was flown to the island. ---
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2020, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lot-of-silver-was-used-to-help-build-the-first-atomic-bomb/851544/10 "2020-04-11T22:13:37Z")
BTW this OP is part of why I visit this place. Thank you for posting. Every chemist has used mass spec for analysis, but the idea of \* preparative\* MS just boggles me. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2020, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lot-of-silver-was-used-to-help-build-the-first-atomic-bomb/851544/11 "2020-04-12T12:21:27Z")
as the article states 95% of the Oak Ridge people did not know what the project was for. Only knew it was for the war. They called it tubealloy rather than uranium. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2020, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lot-of-silver-was-used-to-help-build-the-first-atomic-bomb/851544/12 "2020-04-12T13:50:10Z")
Everyone interested in this subject should read Richard Rhodes excellent “The Making of the Atomic Bomb." ---
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2020, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lot-of-silver-was-used-to-help-build-the-first-atomic-bomb/851544/13 "2020-04-12T14:10:16Z")
I was actually just going to ask about books, thanks. I suddenly need to know something about fission for work, so I have homework to do ---
**Author:** ![Sicks\_Ate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Sicks\_Ate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sicks_Ate)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2020, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lot-of-silver-was-used-to-help-build-the-first-atomic-bomb/851544/14 "2020-04-12T14:12:34Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > Everyone interested in this subject should read Richard Rhodes excellent “The Making of the Atomic Bomb." Fantastic book. In fact I can see my copy from where I’m sitting. I keep thinking I’ll read it again, but I’m afraid I’d get lost in the physics now. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2020, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lot-of-silver-was-used-to-help-build-the-first-atomic-bomb/851544/15 "2020-04-12T15:46:21Z")
Mine was [_Manhattan Project: The Birth of the Atomic Bomb in the Words of Its Creators, Eyewitnesses, and Historians._](https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B003UNLA8A/ref=kinw_myk_ro_title) ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2020, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lot-of-silver-was-used-to-help-build-the-first-atomic-bomb/851544/16 "2020-04-12T16:23:22Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > Everyone interested in this subject should read Richard Rhodes excellent “The Making of the Atomic Bomb." He also wrote Dark Sun about the making of the hydrogen bomb. Also this book is about the women who worked at Oak Ridge > **[The Girls of Atomic City — Denise Kiernan](https://www.denisekiernan.com/the-girls-of-atomic-city)** > > the bestselling true story The Girls of Atomic City ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2020, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lot-of-silver-was-used-to-help-build-the-first-atomic-bomb/851544/17 "2020-04-12T17:21:48Z")
Genral Groves’ [Now It Can Be Told.](https://www.amazon.com/Now-Can-Be-Told-Manhattan/dp/0306801892) ---
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2020, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lot-of-silver-was-used-to-help-build-the-first-atomic-bomb/851544/18 "2020-04-12T19:14:58Z")
Hell I’ll read 'em all. But I can also start anew thread if OP doesn’t want this one sidetracked. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2020, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lot-of-silver-was-used-to-help-build-the-first-atomic-bomb/851544/19 "2020-04-12T20:15:47Z")
Silver was used for wire in the core windings in the cyclotron, available copper was being used for shell casings. I recall that being discussed in Groves’ book. Here is[a link.](https://www.americanscientist.org/article/from-treasury-vault-to-the-manhattan-project) ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2020, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lot-of-silver-was-used-to-help-build-the-first-atomic-bomb/851544/20 "2020-04-12T21:06:23Z")
the movie Fat man and little boy was pretty good, Paul Newman starred as Gen. Groves. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-lot-of-silver-was-used-to-help-build-the-first-atomic-bomb/851544.md?page=2)